YOUR NEIGHBOR: Steve Wilberding

Neighborhood: Casey Key
Neighbor since: 1999

Steve Wilberding has lived in places most people only read about in travel magazines. His 30-year career in international investment banking with Merrill Lynch has taken him and his family to London, Japan, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia, just to name a few.

Before moving in 1999 to Casey Key, Wilberding managed the Saudi Arabian government’s $150 billion of reserves; ran a merchant banking subsidiary dealing with emerging markets in Latin America; worked in privatization in Eastern Europe and Russia; and established and ran three joint ventures in Mumbai, India.
Asked how he dealt with different cultures, Wilberding says, “You have to keep a sense of humor.”

His love of traveling started when he left Yale University during his sophomore year and helped found a nonprofit called Up With People.

“Because of the global struggle, I felt I needed to know more about it, and I began working with (Up With People). I spent a year in Europe and a couple of years in Asia,” Wilberding says.

Wilberding’s father signed him up for the draft, and, in 1965, he was drafted into the Army. During his five years of service, he served as a captain in the infantry, an Army Ranger and an Army Pathfinder for the 101st Airborne Division in South Vietnam. He earned 13 awards and decorations, including several for valor.

IN HIS OWN WORDS
“My house is on the waterway side (of Casey Key), and we watch the sunsets,” Wilberding says. “It’s a very healing paradise.”